Fight goes on for place in Raddy's Lions squad

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Jun 09, 2011 SINGAPORE - National football coach Radojko Avramovic will not be drawn into it, but with just over a month until a likely blockbuster clash with Malaysia in a World Cup qualifier double-header on July 23 and 28, the final list of 22 names for the Singapore squad must be on his mind.

Having named a provisional 33-man squad a little over two weeks ago, the Serb's Lions played in their first competitive fixture in six months on Tuesday, beating the Maldives 4-0.

A key part of the Lions' arsenal, Khairul Amri and Shahril Ishak played no part in the win, while young faces Afiq Yunos, Delwinder Singh and Sifian Anuar did not even make it off the subsitute's bench.

Out of the 33, 11 players are expected to miss out, although there is a possibility players from outside the provisional list could come in.

That fight will now continue across two continents.

Avramovic, 61, left for Sydney last night with the national under-23 team, who will play against the Australian Olympic team (June 12) and club side Central Coast Lightning (June 15), and 10 members of the squad are in the 33-man list.

Meanwhile, a Singapore Selection led by V Sundramoorthy will take on the Kuwait Olympic team on Monday at the Jurong West Stadium and the 23-man squad features two members from the provisional national list - Delwinder Singh and Andrew Tan - while the rest are mostly unheralded new names.

"The boys in the squad for Kuwait did not make the list by coincidence. We will see what can be done with them later on," Avramovic told MediaCorp yesterday.

The first round of fixtures for the 2011 RHB Singapore Cup kicks off this week and it could affect who is available for Monday's game.

Sundram, the former Singapore star, deflected any talk about possible national selection, when he said: "Kuwait is a tough team to beat, and we'll put out the best possible team. I will be submitting a report to Raddy after the game.

"The players should just let their feet do the talking, and show what they are capable of."



Singapore Selection against Kuwait

Goalkeepers: Hyrulnizam Juma'at, Ridhuan Barudin; Defenders: Delwinder Singh, Madhu Mohana, Jeremy Chiang, Eddie Affendy Chang, Zul Nor Farahin, Ali Hudzaifi; Midfielders: Tengku Mushadad, Rhysh Roshan Rai, Zulfadli Zainal Abidin, Ridhwan Jamaludin, Hafiz Abu Sujad, Syaqir Sulaiman, Matthew Abraham; Forwards: Masrezwan Masturi, Erwan Gunawan, Andrew Tan, Amy Recha Pristifana, Fareez Farhan, Zulkifli Hassim, Taufiq Rahmat, Fazli Zailani